To begin the year using Google classroom or Google Docs to extend Reading strategies

Common Core Reading strategies using Google Classroom or Google Docs

BYOD: After a week, what does the D stand for for you: device, demands, delight, doh*? (* See the Oxford English Dictionary,  Homer Simpson, or the Google Dictionary you have on  your toolbar                                                                                                                                            

Why BYOD? Over 80% of Fortune 500 companies post job openings exclusively online. Over half of today’s jobs require technology skills, and nearly 80% of jobs in the next decade are projected to require digital skills. Closing the broadband adoption and digital literacy skills gap is critical to the future of our economy.  FCC Chairman Genachowski, 2/14/13

The MVLAUHSD BYOD program has a unique potential to address the opportunity gap, a crucial key to the “achievement gap”.

When assigning a reading or new problem set, to access prior knowledge, implement compare and contrasting expectations, build community, and promote the “d” (diversity as a resource) of the “abcde”s of identity safety, and to involve all students at this time of year with whatever they bring to our classrooms, prompts can be:

Read … and respond to one of the two questions:

How is this reading/problem set  similar or different from a reading you remember from last year?

or

What is new information, information you have questions about, and/or information that is review for you?

For those experimenting with Google Classroom you can still use the split screen ( available by using the scissors add on, also on the toolbar ) to allow students to complete a reading on one “side” of their screen  and respond to these questions using the “add class comments” on the other “side”. ( see the image below) Consider the difficulty of the questions; students can see their colleagues’ responses or you can use the mute function on a student’s comment so only you can see their comments.

You can also have students submit their answers on a doc they share with you, on the reading you push out, or even in a form.  More on these options later this quarter.